Francis Daniel Culpepper
Cowboy
1859 - 1910

Francis Daniel Culpepper was known as "Dan" and seems to have been a high-spirited and adventuresome young man.

A niece, Margaret Phillips Dodd, reports:

My mother, Julia Culpepper Phillips, told us a story about Uncle Dan which made him a hero in our eyes. A man by the name of Hosey, about Uncle Dan's age, came by and asked Grandfather [Lewis P. Culpepper] for work. After talking with him for some time, Grandfather decided to try him out. Hosey was a good worker, and he and Uncle Dan would hire out to other farmers to make money. Uncle Dan had a fine saddle horse he called Celam. Hosey would ride one of the other horses and they would go places and have dates together.

About six months later, Uncle Dan got up one morning and Hosey was not there. He went to the barn looking for him and found that his horse Celam was also missing. Uncle Dan quickly figured out that Hosey had stolen his horse and skipped out. He was very angry and set out to overtake him. He took one of the horses and along the way would ask farmers if they had seen Hosey, describing him and the horse. Late in the afternoon, Uncle Dan would stop at a farmer's house, tell him about the horse thief and ask if he could leave his horse and borrow one of his so he could ride all night. The next morning he would check to see if he were on the right trail, tell his story and borrow a fresh horse for the day.

Early on the third morning, he came upon a farm house and saw a horse in the lot that looked like Celam. Uncle Dan whistled and Celam stood up on his hind feet and answered him. He then went to the door and asked the farmer if the man who rode that horse was there. The farmer said he was having breakfast and asked him in. When they got to the kitchen the farmer's wife said, "When the man heard your voice he ran out the back door."

They looked out and Hosey was running as fast as he could headed for the woods. The farmer asked Uncle Dan if he wanted to go after him but he said no he just wanted his horse. They invited him to have breakfast and sleep for a while before starting home.

Dan soon moved to Texas and became a cowboy there. A niece, Mary Exa Culpepper Crossman, wrote about her family staying with Dan and his family:

I remember the cold winter, snowy nights and of the stories he told us about the heavy snow storms he drove cattle through this part of Texas. He herded cattle for years. I thought he was some kind of "hero." I was a small child I think about six years old. He must have had an adventurous life. I loved him dearly.

Another niece, Iva Culpepper Cline, reports:

Uncle Dan was a cowboy and helped settle up part of Texas and Oklahoma. I used to hear him tell about the narrow escapes they had with Indians trying to steal their horses and cattle.

Margaret Whatley Lee wrote:

He said years ago a group of Indians passed through and stopped at his place and wanted something to eat.... He found out they were from Oklahoma and he asked them if they knew Daniel Culpepper and they said yes, they had been in his house many times and that was the last news he ever had about Daniel....

Iva Culpepper Cline also recalls a story Dan told about the time:

Dan and his pal, Charlie Carroll, decided to settle down and get married. They got on their horses and rode off and were going to stop at the first town they came to. I think it was Quanah, in Hardeman County, Texas... At the edge of town they say two beautiful girls drawing water for the cattle at the well. Each decided which one he wanted. They spent the night there, went to work on the farm and they married the women at the well soon after that.

Dan's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Otis Francis Culpepper, says:

Our family has Dan's 1873 Winchester bought in Dodge City, KS. At age 30, in 1890, he married Mary Ellen Loter, and took up the more settled life of a farmer.

Dan and his family moved from Texas to Oklahoma around 1900 and bought 160 acres near what is now Gould, OK. Iva Cline went on to say:

Uncle Dan and Aunt Mollie went to Greer County and filed on some government land, that is how he acquired all that huge farm land.... Seemed strange that they lived in a small house. Uncle Dan had all kind of expensive farm equipment that money could buy. He raised horses, cattle, and most everything else. My father [Thomas Jefferson Culpepper] was fascinated when he found out how easy it was to farm with all that up-to-date machinery.

The family lived in that small farm house until Dan's death in 1910.

Source: The foregoing was extracted from the information contained in the Culpepper Connections Family Tree Record for Francis Daniel Culpepper and was edited by Warren Culpepper for clarity and brevity.

Culpepper Ancestry: Francis Daniel Culpepper was the son of Lewis Peek and Margarette Bateman Culpepper and the grandson of John and Nancy Gillespie Culpepper. He was also the half-brother of Clarissa Culpepper, who is the great-grandmother of Lew Griffin (the primary contributor of information for this web site.)

Last Revised: 18 Nov 2001